[sldev] [POLICY] OpenSL considered harmful?

Joshy Squashy sly_squash at hotmail.com
Tue Dec 11 16:51:09 PST 2007




Thank you for your responses, Kelly Linden.  Always nice to hear right from the source. :)

Q: "What you mean by 'when the SL
server should also be some other type of server' etc"A:  Arbitrary server -- web, file, or other type of server.  But a better answer might be to give a (albeit somewhat contrived) specific workflow I envision.  I guess imagine a virtual file server.  Using the open-source viewer and open-source viewer code, you could create a prims to represent viewer-uploaded files like personal videos, documents, and such.  For example, I could create a prim shaped like a video cassette, texture with a label like a wedding dress, and upload a file "My Wedding Video.mov".  When someone else sees the virtual video cassette, they could click it, and the custom server code would know to check the location where it stored the uploaded video and send it to the user.

Or one could envision a virtual library where users create "book" prims, texture the prims like their corresponding books, upload the e-book to their custom OpenSim server via an interface in their custom Second Life viewer, and then we would host a virtual library of e-books.  User's could login to the virtual library server and click the book they want to read, and the server would send the e-book, and perhaps then the custom client would have a built-in reader for opening the e-book.

Again, it's a bit contrived, but I think you can begin to see some of the potential that comes along with having the Second Life server and another type of server be on the same box.

~Squash Otoro



Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:07:57 -0800
From: kelly at lindenlab.com
To: sly_squash at hotmail.com
CC: sldev at lists.secondlife.com
Subject: Re: [sldev] [POLICY] OpenSL considered harmful?






  
  


Joshy Squashy wrote:

  OpenSL (http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page) is an open
source alpha Second Life server framework.  It is extremely crippled,
with limited scripting options and a large number of missing features;
however, it is functional.

  

The laboratory at my college has been doing research using synthetic
worlds in education software projects and software engineering projects
for some time.  We have been following development of OpenSL for some
time, as we are very excited with the possibilities of having access to
the source code for both the client and server (particularly in
situations when the SL server should also be some other type of server).

  

Though OpenSL isn't much at the moment, we are approaching the point
where we plan to try OpenSL servers for some very simple projects. 
However, some colleagues disagree that we should consider OpenSL,
claiming they are reverse-engineering Second Life's message protocols
and that having the potential for hosting "free" Second Life servers is
a threat to Linden Labs so Linden Labs will either shut down OpenSL or
release client versions that render OpenSL unusable.

  

While I don't know Linden Labs opinion on the subject, I would think
that such claims don't amount to much.  Releasing a client version that
renders OpenSL unusable can't really happen because the client is open
source so it's a trivial matter to remove the code that prevents
interoperability.  However, shutting down OpenSL I see as conceivable
but unlikely; the OpenSL server is so crippled that one would need very
specific reasons as to why it would be desirable to use it, and Linden
Labs hasn't taken action yet.  I simply don't see Linden Labs as
considering this to be a threat, particularly considering their
substantial existing userbase and that my understanding is that they've
been toying with the idea of releasing the server code outright
themselves for some time already.

  

Still, my colleagues and I would be very interested in hearing Linden
Labs direction in dealing with those involved in developing 3rd party
Second Life server frameworks.

  

~Squash Otoro


As others have pointed out, we are working with OpenSim (along with
other people) in the AWG groups on standards of interoperability.  
>From the wiki page:

"AWG's mission is to develop the protocols that will open up the Second
Life Grid from something operated solely by Linden Lab to where others
can run parts of the grid."

I think someone linked it already, but more info on AWG here:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Architecture_Working_Group



I am sure the AWG group, and myself personally, would be interested in
any reasoning for using OpenSim over SL - what you mean by "when the SL
server should also be some other type of server" etc.  Your
requirements probably aren't entirely unique and I'm sure the group
could benefit from hearing them.



As for OpenSim specifically, we don't have the means to block access to
them (due to the open source client as mentioned), nor do I think we
have the desire to.  I can't offer any official statement about OpenSim
or our future interactions with them, but I think our work with AWG
speaks clearly towards our intent.



 - Kelly




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